Winter 2011

PIR: Volume 64 No 4

Q&A:
Harold E. Varmus, Nobel laureate in medicine and director of the National Cancer Institute, was interviewed about many of the issues of concern to the FAS founders that exist today. Previously he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) and as Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).Duly Noted:
Ambassador Steven Pifer of the Brookings Institution and Dr. Ariel Cohen of the Heritage Foundation disuss the proposed missile defense system from the NATO and Russian perspectives respectively.Book Review:Merchants of Doubt – How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth On Issues From Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway.Film Review:The Forgotten Bomb by Bud Ryan and Stuart Overbey.

Rules of the Road: Responsible Use of Weapons in SpaceShould a major outage of satellite capacity occur, financial and trade markets could collapse, a recession
spanning the globe would ensue, and security tensions would exacerbate. Should the United States seize the
initiative and secure low-Earth orbit while its allies are unchallenged in space?

Managing Risk in SpaceSince the launch of Sputnik in 1957, governments and commercial companies have placed thousands of satellites in orbit around the Earth. Today, there are more than 16,000 active satellites and debris in the public catalog of tracked objects. Governments and businesses operating spacecraft need to take a new approach to enhance the safety and efficacy of the space environment.

The Anti-Satellite Capability of the Phased Adaptive Approach Missile Defense SystemOn February 14, 2008, General James Cartwright announced the United States would destroy a nonresponsive intelligence satellite soon to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere using the Aegis sea-based missile defense system. While framed as a public safety measure, some observers expressed skepticism that this risk was the real or entire motivation for the exercise. The interception demonstrated the ASAT capability of the U.S. Aegis sea-based missile defense system.